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Joseph Pierce
History William "Joseph" Pierce was born on November 27th, 1995 to William "Bill" Tony Pierce Jr. and Vicki Lynn Pierce. Joseph was the firstborn and the eldest heir of the Pierce family line. Joseph preceded his other siblings; Rebecca Pierce, Jonathan Pierce, and Paul Pierce. At age 2, Joseph was taken by his father to Triarch Industries's secret laboratory facility in Manchester, Georgia, code-named Facility 13, and was brought in while Bill was working as he had been tasked with keeping Joseph for the day. Joseph made quick friends with the daughter of Triarch's standing director, Yurchev Misiam, named Jessica Elaina Misiam. During the course of his short stay at Facility 13, Joseph managed to stumble his way into the observation area that overlooked a containment cell holding a form of hybrid symbiote, identifying itself as Xertarnius. Joseph and Jessica spent some hours observing the creature and interacting with it beyond the observation cell before it was discovered they had escaped. Intrigued by the symbiote's reaction to Joseph and Jessica, they were inducted into an experimental program where they interacted with the symbiote. Due to their naive nature and limited knowledge, the two were able to not only understand the researchers but also learned to communicate with Xertarnius as well. This culminated until one fateful day when Bill's top secret "Project Prototype" program was released. Joseph was brought in along with Jessica and quickly shuffled into their research laboratory. The project was overseen by Dr. Lydia Bower, a prominent thinker in the field of genetic manipulation. Using a device dubbed "The Fusion Modulator", Joseph and Jessica were fused with Xertarnius. The result gave Joseph and Jessica incredible abilities/powers that altered their physical being. The success was short lived as upon completion of the fusion process, Joseph emerged and entered an enraged state, transforming for the very first time into his infected form, at the time dubbed "Prototype Alpha" (Jessica being dubbed "Prototype Bravo"). Joseph attacked on-site personnel and inflicted serious casualties and heavily injured his father and other facility staff. Only through the efforts of his mother, Vicki, who had not been informed of Triarch and Bill's plans to experiment on her son, was she able to calm Joseph down and force him to revert to human form. Following this incident, Triarch called in their Psychological Special Task Force, code-named "The Jury", and implemented multiple psychological barriers in Joseph's mind to repress the violent outbursts. The Jury noted that Joseph seemed to now posses a dual personality, one being his original and one being that of the infected symbiote. Triarch wasn't sure how the consciousness was transferred but The Jury cited that it was very much aware of what was going on and now had a means of communicating efficiently. Triarch placed multiple protective mental blocks in place, temporarily sealing away Xertarnius in the subconscious of Joseph's mind. While unable to fully manifest and take full control of his body, Xertarnius still held some control over Joseph and modified his thought patterns to match its own. At just under 3 years of age, Joseph was deemed Triarch's first and most powerful Prototype ever created. Following the rapid expansion of the Prototype Program, Joseph was reclassified from Prototype Alpha to Prototype 13. In order to further protect the secret of Triarch's biological weapons program, Bill opted to have Joseph home-schooled to ensure the mental barriers would remain intact. As years went on, Joseph did not appear any different than that of a normal boy. There were some instances where Xertarnius was able to take over Joseph's body during this time period, however in all instances, Joseph was completely unaware/unconscious of the events that took place after he transformed and was triggered as a result of experimentation by Triarch (some planned, some not). During his childhood, he became friends with Mattie Turner. Mattie was the daughter of another Triarch agent unknowingly and formed a close relationship with Joseph. As the two grew older, some romantic feelings began to stir between the two. Joseph also met one of his best friends, Brandon Schmalz during this time. Unlike Joseph and Mattie, Brandon attended public school and served as Joseph's sight into what it was like being out in the public. Joseph and Brandon bonded over their interest in video games, parkour, and sparring. Joseph and Brandon would proceed to get in minor trouble all across Manchester during this time. Joseph also made friends with Colby Hendricks during this time. He became friends with he and his family, including Ronnie Hendricks, Kim Hendricks, Colin Hendricks, and Kelybess Hendricks. Joseph and Colin worked together on several projects in the local area and in exchange, Joseph would call on Colin and his friends if he needed some extra muscle and Colin would call on Joseph if he needed technological assistance. Joseph and Colby became good friends over their shared interest in movies, video games, and strategy games. In 2008, Joseph's parents divorced after his mother had serious concerns over what Bill had done and what Triarch was continuing to do. In order to protect Joseph, she separated from Bill, much to his dismay. Though she had knowledge of Joseph's capabilities, she knew that they were under control and as long as they were kept away from Triarch then he would be safe. Shortly after this, she was forced to send Joseph to public school. During his time in public school, Joseph made new friends including Jordan, Serena, Nick, and Abbey. Joseph began to grow apart from Brandon and Mattie, with Brandon taking on a more dangerous lifestyle while Mattie focused on advancing her social standing. During this time, Joseph's relationship and friendship with Mattie turned sour as Xertarnius implanted the idea that she abandoned him. This led him to begin to exhibit anti-social behavior. Abbey caught onto this and took every effort to spend time with Joseph. The two became closer and closer until the two finally decided to start dating in high school. During this time, Joseph took an important role as captain of the soccer team for Manchester High School. Despite knowing that Joseph's physical abilities were enhanced by Xertarnius, Triarch knew they could not interfere or risk blowing their cover and unwinding the mental barriers put in place. Due to this, Joseph led the school's soccer team and helped them achieve their first victories ever in the region. Going into senior year, Joseph's mood had drastically changed from when he had first come. Although he was quiet and reclusive, he was intelligent and retained information easily, giving him an edge with his academics. Despite his apparent success, his psychological health continued to deteriorate due to the influence of Xertarnius and the damage of the mental barriers. On prom night in his senior year, Joseph's health suddenly took a rapid decline and he was immediately hospitalized as intense surges of rage began to surge through him along with agonizing pain. Triarch quickly reported to the incident, discovering that Joseph was apparently suffering from appendicitis. Having not seen his powers active in years, they rushed to suppress his outburst and perform damage control. Bill responded to the attack and given no other choice, he shot Joseph in the head. Due to the abilities granted from Xertarnius, Joseph was able to regenerate from the damage within a matter of hours. Triarch recognized that Joseph was no longer just the strongest Prototype; he was their most powerful weapon. On April 9th, 2013, a few weeks later, Day Zero was triggered. Joseph was injured during a wreck while trying to avoid an infected person that jumped out in the road in front of him, further agitating his recovering injuries from his surgery. Powers & Abilities * Super Strength ** Due to Joseph's regenerative capabilities, he is able to rapidly generate muscle mass to grant him enhanced strength. Given the seemingly infinite limit of his regeneration abilities, it is believed his strength can scale to such, however he is limited by what he perceives as his limit. * Enhanced Reflexes/Speed ** Due to his enhanced strength, Joseph is able to output much more energy than normal which allows him to accelerate up to roughly 60 MPH while on foot while transformed. While Joseph could possibly move faster, physical limitation of how fast his feet can move do limit him before the risk of tripping up on himself begins to arise. This also drastically reduces his response time and is allows him to partially predict attacks, giving him an advantage to protect himself from incoming blows. * Regeneration ** Due to the abilities of the virus and its ability to keep hosts alive without sustenance, Joseph is given a powerful regenerative factor. This power allows him to suffer critical damage and immediately begin to synthesize new matter to put back into his mass. Any limbs or appendages that are severed from the body will quickly dissolve into a dark goo and fizzle away. Joseph can be damaged anywhere on his body, including vital organs, his spine, or his brain, and can reverse the damage to it. ** This ability seems to have no impact on his ability to shave, have a haircut, or trim nails. Unless he wants it to. ** Joseph can further utilize this ability to regenerate in a more efficient manner. Should he deem that his current form is unsuited for the current situation, he can modify his body to adapt as needed. He can change his overall appearance including hair color, length, muscle mass, body type, facial features, and more. * Immortality ** Expanding further on his regeneration, Joseph cannot be permanently killed. Even if his heart stops, it will inevitably restart itself. If his brain is destroyed, it will reform and he will pick up where he left off. Even if his body is completely vaporized, Joseph can reconstitute himself out of thin air using Zominium. He appears to suffer no memory loss as a result of these events, showing some form of connection to the singularity network that Hivemind controls. * Transformation ** Joseph is able to shapeshift his body into his infected form. Joseph has access to most of his abilities while in his human form, however transforming allows him to unlock the full power of each of his abilities. These transformations can occur simultaneously and do not require for Joseph to shift progressively through each form. According to Triarch, there are five distinctive forms Joseph can mutate into: *** Stage 1 - Human in appearance, full access to immortality, minor enhanced strength and heightened reflexes. Joseph remains in this form without effort and when he is temporarily killed, he often reverts to this form. *** Stage 2 - Enhanced human capabilities. Joseph now stands approximately 6'2" with well defined muscle mass and razor fangs. His bones harden and lengthen, particularly in his hands, which gives him claws that tear through the skin. These claws are capable of shredding through organic material with ease and some weak metals. Six spikes erupt from his spine and extend roughly 3-4 inches and are remarkably stronger than his claws but seem to have little utility. Joseph normally utilizes this form while combating raiders and infected. *** Stage 3 - Mutated human. Now standing roughly 7 feet tall and weighing over 500 lbs. consisting of primarily muscle and bone, Joseph's mastery and power behind his abilities begins to exponentially increase. Joseph can access this form if put under enough pressure and primarily uses it during important fights or in situations that require him to tap into extreme amounts of strength. Joseph can lift several tons within this form. His claws elongate and are further reinforced, allowing him to shred metal with ease. His hardened bones and skin give him resistance to ballistic weaponry. His spine spikes grow longer, reaching between 1-2 feet in length and can be used to impale targets from behind. These spikes, along with bone spurs that erupt from his elbows, can be ripped off and used as weapons in combat or as projectiles when used in conjunction with his Viral Manipulation ability. Joseph's healing factor is greatly enhanced, allowing him to regenerate from critical damage within seconds and without losing consciousness. *** Stage 4 - Heavily mutated. Joseph cannot access this form without the joint approval of Xertarnius. While in this form, both consciousnesses are required to control the body and must work in unison. Joseph now stands at approximately 8 feet tall and weights over 1000 lbs. with an unknown limit to his strength. Joseph cannot be harmed by ballistic or explosive damage within this form and his resistance to other forms of damage is highly increased. He is able to freely activate Viral Manipulation at will and with no physical strain on himself. Along with his base abilities, he also gains access to the full array of powers that all Prototypes and all infected have access to. He forms a second spine, causing his back to form a Y-shape that then ties back into the skull. From each spine, three spine spikes exist. These spikes have shifted from an extremely dense bone-like material to a tendril-like appearance. These tendrils can be controlled freely by Joseph or Xertarnius and function as 6 additional smaller arms that curl around his back. This form has only been utilized against Omega-level threats such as REDACTED and REDACTED. *** Stage 5 - REDACTED, PLEASE CONTACT FOUNDING COUNCIL FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. May God have mercy on our souls. * Viral Manipulation ** Joseph can control infected targets and control the physical virus as needed. This can be used to disable infected targets, disintegrate infected targets, absorb infected material from a target, or puppet other infected targets. Joseph can use this ability to interact with Zominium itself and allows him to terraform if surrounded by the infected material. This also grants him the ability to understand the infected if they are capable of intelligent though despite speaking in their infected language. Joseph has also used this ability alongside his bones/spikes to form projectiles and spears using his body parts. This ability takes a heavy strain on Joseph that can render him unconscious if used in rapid succession without transforming into an advanced enough form. * Viral Possession ** A form of Viral Manipulation that gives Joseph the ability to remotely control infected targets. This is generally used against infected subjects but can be used against Prototypes. This gives Joseph an impenetrable defense against anyone who attempts to use Viral Manipulation against him. This ability can also be utilized if Joseph sustains enough critical damage that renders his entire body destroyed. Using this, Joseph can shift his consciousness to another infected target or anywhere on the planet where Zominium exists and forcefully initiate regeneration, shapeshifting the infected target into a new copy of himself that replaces the destroyed copy. This new copy is a perfect replica of the original, retaining all memories, behavior, personality, and genetic structure. * Dual Personality ** "Two minds, one body", allowing Joseph and Xertarnius to freely switch back and forth between who has control and who stays in the background. The two are very similar in personality, however those that have spent time around Joseph can generally identify when Joseph is in control or when Xertarnius is in control. Joseph can see, hear, and interact with Xertarnius who appears as a hallucination to him and is not visible/audible/tangible to anyone else. This can be swapped when Xertarnius is in control and allows him to see and interact with Joseph. This ability is also utilized whenever Joseph is subjected to psychological attacks by infected subjects or other Prototypes. Prototypes cannot invade his mind and access his memories without Joseph and Xertarnius's explicit permission. Those who attempt are trapped inside of Joseph's mind until he forces them out or allows them proceed. ** Although never utilized in such a manner in the series, it can be used by Joseph and Xertarnius to allow for their physical body to operate 24/7 without break, as long as one of the consciousnesses is allowed to rest as if they were asleep. Weaknesses * It should be noted that there is no known way to kill Joseph while he has access to all of his powers. He can be temporarily disabled, but with an emphasis on "temporarily". * Joseph does not react well to sub-zero temperatures. His super strength is capable of breaking out of thick ice, however cold conditions do adversely impact his ability to fight. * He is highly reactive to electricity. With a strong enough shock, it can trigger a reaction from his super strength causing him to lose control of his body. If shocked repeatedly for an extended period of time, testing shows that it becomes increasingly ineffective at keeping him neutralized. ** There is a notable exception with Prototype 0, Jessica Misiam. Despite being able to output immense energy bursts, Joseph is completely immune to all of her electrical based attacks (barring electrical burns). It is theorized that due to being fused alongside Jessica with Xertarnius, her energy signature is a perfect match to Joseph's, preventing her powers from harming him. * Joseph can be affected by radioactive elements. Exposure while in Stage 1 or Stage 2 will cause him to exhibit signs of radiation sickness. These effects will rapidly fade once removed from the radioactive zone. Joseph is strongly compelled to transform while exposed to radiation and will normally enter a Stage 3 transformation which is unaffected by the radiation other than being unable to return to human form until removed from the radioactive area. ** It has been noted that low doses of radiation such as from that of x-rays or microwaves do not trigger these effects, radioactive elements must be of substantial quantity and must be either weapons-grade or commercial-grade nuclear material. * Joseph can be affected by lack of oxygen but only for a short period of time. Due to his rapid regeneration, his body can forcefully initiate an evolutionary advance that either allows him to convert oxygen in the general area (such as in situations where he is being drowned) or will render him into a "low-power" mode that is generally unresponsive and utilizes minimal output until he is able to determine a way to escape into a location where oxygen exists. * Joseph can be burned, however his regeneration renders all fire-based damage pointless within seconds to minutes (depending on transformation stage). He can be completely incinerated, destroying all flesh, and can regenerate from bones alone. He can be melted (such as with lava) or vaporized (by a sufficient energy weapon) and can still regenerate out of the air using his Viral Possession ability. * Joseph is immune to all poisons and diseases. ** There is a notable exception to this based on the Turnero Virus (sometimes referred to by Triarch as VENOM), developed exclusively by Agent Pierce to counteract Joseph's ability to regenerate and is based off the toxins utilized by REDACTED, may God have mercy on our souls. The Turnero Virus causes extreme corruption and destruction of genetic material that is highly lethal to humans. On Joseph, it forces his regenerative abilities to stall out and can potentially induce a coma-like state.